Several proposed arrangements of laser light illuminated projection displays have been described in many prior-art documents. It is believed, however, that, despite these prior-art descriptions there has not yet been produced a commercially available, consumer market, laser-illuminated video display of any kind.
In order for such a display to be acceptable in a consumer electronic market, such a display would need to be competitive in cost and technical performance with conventional projection displays that are illuminated with a white light source such as a mercury lamp. Requirements for a laser used in a laser projection display include, reliability, compactness, energy efficiency, closeness of the laser output wavelength to an additive primary (r, g, or b) wavelength, and a beam quality compatible with spatial light modulators used in the display. Perhaps equally important, the laser should be inexpensive and easy to manufacture in volumes that will be required in a consumer market. Further, the display must include measures to eliminate perceivable “speckle” and other effects in the display resulting from coherence of the laser radiation. These requirements are addressed in embodiments of an inventive laser display described hereinbelow.